UMass Economists Say the State’s Financial Picture Looks Good

by: Evan BashaJune 9, 2014

It’s been a long recovery, but Robert Nakosteen says the Massachusetts economy is doing better than the rest of the nation. Nakosteen edits Mass Benchmarks, a financial publication of the UMass Donahue Institute. He says the state is even gaining pace.

“Global demand for the goods and services that Massachusetts produces is increasing,” Nakosteen says. “The housing market in the state has improved, and that has made homeowners, their balance sheets much more healthy. That leads them to spend more. The unemployment rate has been falling. And the state has been adding a lot of jobs. In 2013 we added over 50,000 jobs. And the first few months of this year we’ve continued to add jobs.”

Even though the overall consensus is positive, the rebound in single-family housing construction has stalled, housing recovery has slowed outside of some markets, and business investment remains weak.

Nakosteen says these contributing factors serve to slow, though not reverse, economic expansion. He says the trend for the Massachusetts economy will continue upward in production and job creation. And although it’s not without risk, he added there’s nothing obvious in the immediate future that should cause economic difficulty.

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